3 April 08

After the planning letter last week we thought a trip to the council offices in Sorbas this morning was a good idea. We saw Pablo, the planning officer, who seemed quite relaxed about the initial rejection letter. He said we just have to expand on some of the information and re-submit. So guess what we're doing this weekend! By the way I will put up our proposal soon for you to see, honest.

Mulching mad

We eventually got to the land in time for a quick round of watering and mulching before lunch. We've done a lot of pruning of trees and shrubs back home lately and hate burning everything so have invested in a shredder. Dave has been spending a couple of hours every now and then shredding up all the bits which mostly go on the compost heap, then we remembered the onions and decided to give them a helping hand with some mulch. And here they are looking very colourful. I'm not sure how much mulching changes the acidity/alkilinity of the soil so I hope we haven't upset their balance.

The raspberries gave us a lovely surprise today. Out of the three that were showing no signs of life, two have started to sprout buds - yippee!

Notches

Michael Reynolds is so right about trying to keep things simple. One change to his basic plans does cause a lot more work. We don't mind about this because we think the change is worth it, but it really is something to consider before going off plan.

To prepare the roof beams where they sit on the central beam we have to cut notches into them so they slot together and flatten off their bottoms so they don't roll. Dave has been talking to Joseph who is a carpenter by trade and is building his own earthship in Northern Spain. He has given us an idea of how much we need to overlap the beams without compromising strength, thanks Joseph.

Tassel Hyacinth

Just had to take a photo of this little fella who's popped up near the satsuma. The purple colour is so intense in a land that's very dusty yellow.